"I hope everyone has their winter underwear on, people!" Maya announced through the comm, grinning "It's a bit chilly outside."

Chilly did not exactly cut it. Current temperatures outside, even during the short summer, were barely above zero degrees Fahrenheit. The weather was clear, and deceptively nice, looking from the inside of the X-jet, but Antarctica was not exactly a vacation spot, even on a sunny day.
Which was all right, because the X-men were not here on vacation.

Maya double checked the landing coordinates they had been given by the research station. Not every part of the ice was able to support something the size of the X-jet, and no one wanted to get stupidly stranded on the South Pole because their ship decided to sink. They had already done the flyover, hoping it would yield results, but in vain. Now they had to get up close and personal.

"Search and rescue" she reminded the team as she maneuvered the jet to land "Keep your eyes open, and if the cold is getting too much to handle, let us know. I'm not dragging anyone's frozen ass all the way back to the jet."

She would have, if she had to. But she'd rather not. As she had said, this was a search and rescue mission, which is why they had two team members - Becca and her - and two trainees on board. Rescue missions were always good for the trainees, and Sky and Luke had been excelling so far.

The call came in from the international research station the day before. The crew of a research ship had gone missing, exploring the warm cave systems that opened up from some of Antarctica's rapidly melting glaciers. The scientists had gone in three weeks earlier, and dropped contact almost immediately; periods of silence were normal on such missions, but this time, it stretched too long. Since none of the cave systems were mapped, it was extremely dangerous to follow them without proper equipment, backup, and possibly superhuman powers. Hence, the X-men. It was not their first such mission, and the ones before had gone reasonably well.

"Check your gear everyone" Maya reminded the team as they landed "Let's get this show on the road."

Becca knew missions were something to take seriously, particularly when she was considered a Team Leader of the X-Men. That being said, she was one to look on the bright side and appreciate the things she loved about being a superheroine. If she had a travel bucket list, she would be clearing it at a remarkable place thanks to international missions. Hungary, Atlantis, a volcanic living island, and now Antarctica. It was safe to say this would have fallen further down the list if not for a distress call for aid.

”Ah’m nice an’ toasty. Thankfully, Ah packed fer winter weather,” she pointed out with a grin. The other little joy of being a superheroine: her uniform. Knowing her missions would not all be on Caribbean islands, Becca had a cold-weather iteration of her costume tailored. Thicker material, insulation, faux fur lined boots and gloves, and her half-cape was more of a cloak with faux fur lining. ”Hope ye kids are ready. It’s a wee bit nippy.”

Mirror was taking the lead on explaining the mission, so Becca focused on her gear. She kept her shield secured on her back under her cloak; if she needed it, her powers could get it to her arm in less than a second, so there was no need to tire her arm out. She kept a scabbard at her side to hold her newest item, a sword crafted by Cafas at her request. After more exposure to anachronistic weapons combat, she did not see the harm in having a weapon besides her shield if things ever got too dangerous.

”These caves havenae been explored properly, sae we’ve got nae maps. Be cautious, track yer movements, an’ dinnae gie separated.” She felt the jet power down; they were grounded. She put her comm piece in her ear, because as far as she was concerned, the mission was on. ”Stick together, save scientists, easy as pie, right?”

Becca surveyed the trainees; they were more Mirror’s recruits than hers, but she would have their backs regardless. ”Ye two holdin’ up? Dae ye hae codenames picked out awready?” Even if the X-Men were not an illegal vigilante group in her world, she got accustomed to using codenames in the field, especially after working with the AV!Xmen. She was getting used to her newest codename, derived from a snarky comment by Cafas. She was hoping to get her career as Valkyrie off to a good start with this mission.

The search-and-rescue part wasn't too worrisome. Going underground or into caves didn't bother Luke too much, plus he and Skye both had pretty useful powers for this, and they had 2 full team members, so he didn't think anything could go too wrong. He wasn't sure what they'd find-the party had been missing for a long time-but there wasn't much they could do about that until they found them.

The real reason Luke was fidgeting was because they were going to Antarctica. Antarctica. It might as well be the moon for how many people went there. Well, no, way more people had been here than the moon, but still! That was just cool, even if it was for important and not-fun reasons.

As far as weather was concerned, Luke was better-off than most of them by default, but he still needed to bundle up a little. For him, that mostly meant a full-body, waxed-cotton uniform, plus goggles for the wind. It was actually summer in the south hemisphere and with the polar vortex back home it apparently wasn't too much colder, which was a weird thought. Wind-chill was a big issue though, and his fur did not help with that so much.

Harder to compensate for was Luke's mutant physiology, though luckily there was stuff for that, toO. He had gloves that looked pretty normal except for the holes that let his claws through, and he had headgear that had slits with protective covers, so his ears didn't get smushed down or freeze off. It was a little muffling but he could more-or-less hear just fine. He had a 'tail-sleeve' on his uniform, since he couldn't really have any extremities just hanging out. Overall, it was a little uncomfortable being wrapped up and his fur matted against his body, but he wasn't really cold either.

As they were landing, Luke fitted his earpiece in place and put his hat on. They'd be headed out soon, so Luke quickly did an inventory. He had his gear kit, and everything seemed in order. As the ship touched down, Luke stood up, rolling his shoulders to get loosened up after the long flight. He wasn't actually in 'his' uniform, since that one wasn't suited for the weather (he definitely wanted to get that fixed now), and was instead in a standard, more easily customized trainee uniform. He was kind of jealous of Valkyrie.

Side note; it could be a little awkward to go on missions with, like, your teacher. It was extra bad when that teacher is one for your worst subject. Shin did math and Luke liked math; English, Mrs. Grey's subject, was not his specialty. Extra incentive to be absolutely on-point, he supposed.

Up until now, he'd mostly been quiet, listening to the briefing and instructions. He was a pretty good listener-hearing power aside-but this wasn't the kind of thing he could figure out as they went. Getting lost? VERY bad idea. "Understood. I'll be careful." Luke nodded to Valkyrie's question. Trying to get into that habit, using code names and all. They weren't exactly secret, but relatively anonymous identities had their perks, at least for people who weren't as distinctive as Luke. Plus it was cool.

Though..."Mine's Lycan." All things considered, Luke didn't mind his mutation. Flying or something would be cool but he was pretty secure in his self-image as-is. It was surprisingly hard to think of good codenames though, and he'd been through a short list. Wolf and Fang were pretty cheesy so they were right out, but he'd had a hard time thinking of better ones.

He liked this one though. It also shared his first initial which was a perk for learning to recognize it as his 'name'. Luke adjusted his hat again. "Ready when you are."

Search and rescue mission. Cool. Skye had been there, done that before. Not that it was a piece of cake or anything, but this not being her first mission sort of took the edge off. A little. Though, she couldn't help but hide the slight smirk that arose at the thought of the first mission being in the middle of a fire, and now they were in Antarctica. Talk about your extremes, right? 

"Yeah, I'm all set," she said after a minute, decked out in her blue and grey winter wear, plus a pair of transparent yet still functional gloves. Though her hair was hidden under all the layers, her hands still gave off a slight purple flicker every now and then, meaning her powers still had some function, only inhibited just a little. She still didn't know how Javier pulled that one off, but she was just going to chalk it up to him being a freaking miracle worker. 

"Eyes peeled, stick together, find the scientists, don't freeze to death. Piece of cake," she repeated, remembering to steady her breathing. She was realizing that was a good start to keeping her emotions under control. That, and focus on thoughts that made her feel the way she needed to. She closed her eyes, focusing for a few moments, centering on happy thoughts and the occasional purple flicker became orange, but just as sporadic. Hey, she hadn't perfected this yet, but she was still a trainee after all. 

"Prism," she answered once she opened her eyes again. She was really liking the name, and now, being here on another mission and actually using it...

It made her almost feel official. "I'm ready as I'll ever be." 

It felt good to be running a mission again. The two trainees were good, and they had been working hard to be on the field. Their cold weather gear left some things to be desired (especially as far as wrapped wolf ears and tail were concerned), but Javier had been working overtime doing his level best so that they would be acceptable. So far, so good. Mirror landed the jet and switched all systems off - except from the ones that kept it from freezing over.

>>”These caves havenae been explored properly, sae we’ve got nae maps. Be cautious, track yer movements, an’ dinnae gie separated. Stick together, save scientists, easy as pie, right?”

"Listen to Valkyrie" Maya smirked, glancing at her girlfriend "Never split the party."

If they were lucky, they wouldn't have to. But just in case, Maya had put small portable mirrors in everyone's gear. Prism already had practice with those, and Becca knew just fine how to use them.

>>"Eyes peeled, stick together, find the scientists, don't freeze to death. Piece of cake,"

"Yup." Maya nodded, punching the button the opened the door. Cold air rushed in from outside. Maya had snow goggles that she pulled into place (no need for masks on Antarctica), and walked off the jet, trusting the others to follow. "But just in case someone does get lost, don't forget to place your mirrors the right side up so I can find you."

The jet was parked on a solid piece of ground, a few hundred paces away from the edge of a cliff. The cliff was a sheer hundred foot drop to a river, born from a melting glacier, rushing into the ocean. In the face of the cliff, a good thirty feet below them, was the opening of the cave system. One of them, anyway. Maya walked over to the edge and looked down.

"Alright, according to what the research base knew, this was the entrance they went through. I hope no one is afraid of heights...."

Valkyrie’s eyes scanned the younger members of the team, making sure they had their mirrors available should the need arise. When Cafas designed her circle shield, she specifically requested it be highly reflective and large enough for Gawain’s shoulders to get through. Being on a mission with Maya, the shield would be more than enough to give her access in a pinch.

Luke, Lycan, was the quieter of the two trainees but he seemed ready to get out into the field, which was good. Skye, Prism, was working on keeping herself calm, though she had a tell based on her powers. Valkyrie would not fault her for a little flickering; anyone who did not feel a hint of nerves before a mission was probably not paying attention. Or Mirror. They always seemed confident before, during, and after missions, like they were born for them.

Once they left the jet, Valkyrie was immediately thankful for her upgraded suit. Even with most of her covered, some of the cold still tried to cut through where it could. She pulled the fabric around her neck up over her mouth and nose to limit as much exposure as possible. Suddenly, escaping underground did not sound like that bad of an idea.

The cliff face was daunting, and she kept herself from looking too far over the ledge. She did have her harness under her costume, so she could lower herself down, but that was not the mark of a team player. ”None ay ye fly, right?” Fortunately, the X-Jet was accustomed to accommodating a team member who utilized metal. From the small storage bay of the jet, she drew a sheet of metal that floated to them. It was sturdy enough; nothing she would use to replace her shield, but it was larger. Somehow, she doubted she could get three people to balance on her shield.

”Okay. Unless ye have yer own way down a hundred foot cliff face, Ah can give ye a literal lift.” The sheet thick sheet of metal hovered two inches off the ground like a thicker, less impractical magic carpet. ”It’s a lang way doon, sae dae your best tae keep your balance. An’ dinnae distract me; carryin’ three of ye’s gonna be tough enough. Ah shoods be able tae get us tae th’ cave entrance” Awaiting any complaints or better ideas, Valkyrie prepared herself to be a flying taxi.

Right, the mirrors. Luke honestly thought it sounded a little spooky. Like, mirror universe? Spooky. Anyway, he double checked his bag one more time, and it was right there in a little felt pouch so it didn't break. That would suuuuuck.

Once they landed, Luke pulled the goggles over his face and grimaced in preparation for what he imagined was an awful bitter cold. He was a little surprised that it the chill that rushed onto them was actually only 'very cold' and not 'instant frostbite' or something. He was relieved but also it was kind of underwhelming which was a bit silly but still. Antarctica.

Anyway, Luke stepped stepped out into the white, cold desert. Antarctica was a desert right? Dang, he ought to know that. Luckily, it didn't seem that awful. Cold, yeah, but Luke was actually pretty comfortable out here. Plus, as he took a moment to look around, it was freaking beautiful here. It almost made him a little choked up, the glacial runoff and all.

Luke crossed his arms as Valkyrie and Mirror discussed their current plan. A huge sheet of iron, or some other magnetic metal he supposed, to use as an elevator down into the caves. It sounded good, and definitely really cool, but...

"I hope I'm not too heavy." He wasn't sure how much weight she could handle, and he didn't want to assume if she didn't realize he was...big. "I'm like, two-seventy, last I checked."

"Maybe uh, take two trips? It's fine if you've got it, just, yeah." Better to be upfront about it and not, y'know, plummet to horrible doom.

"Flight isn't something I've picked up, no," Skye replied, taking another breath. The purple light radiated well paired with the clear gloves as she took in what Mirror and Valkyrie were saying. "Nope, don't have a way down that won't involve scraping my rainbow-ass off the ground later," she replied with a cynical smirk, the lights flicking to orange as she tried to ease the tension with her brand of dark humor.

But there were serious matters at hand, and she was going to do her damnedest, humor aside, and the lights flicked to a determined red-orange to reflect that.

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be," she said, stretching and climbing aboard the sheet of metal and holding her balance. She was ready, and not only was she going to do some good, but she was going to prove herself worthy of being a full member of the team, she hoped.

After some discussion and some logistics, the team decided to leave Luke behind as a lookout for now. He was well suited for cold weather, and someone needed to keep an eye on the Jet in case it decided to sink anyway; there was no need to come back from the mission and make Becca lift the whole thing out of icy water like some kind of a space western scene.

Maya, Becca, and Skye floated down on the sheet of metal to the cave entrance. Everything was while and blue and sparkly, but only a few yards deeper in the tunnel the ice was already beginning to give way to rocks.

"Thermal cave system is what they said" Maya noted, taking the lead as they walked in "If we are lucky, it's gonna get warmer inside. Still, if it gets too toasty for our asses, we're gonna have to retreat." she added, placing a hand-sized mirror on the ice wall by the entrance. "I've always waned to try spelunking. Let's go."

Skye had some personality, which Rebecca actually liked in a recruit. the life of an X-Man was full of plenty of stress and doom and gloom. Being able to keep some humor about you kept that from strangling the heart out of you. Mirror had more experience training Prism, but Valkyrie was not oblivious to the training the young woman was going through. They would be testing that training today, but Valkyrie would be ready to protect the girl if necessary. training didn't keep her from being relatively new to the field.

”Let’s keep aw asses intact on thes trip, rainbow ur otherwise,” Valkyrie teased as she ferried them down into the abyss. It was obvious the temperature was rising as they traveled down into the caves, but that was going to happen as they escaped the chilling winds of the surface.

If anyone knew how to joke under pressure, it was Mirror. Vakyrie rolled her eyes. ”There is nae retreatin’ in spelunkery, Mirror. That’s hoo ye miss it on th’ best treasures. Ur… Ah dunno, unique fungi?” Why did people spelunk, anyway?

In truth, keeping spirits high would be important, because Mirror was not a fan of Valkyrie traveling on big missions after the big news. Her daily mutation today was unobstructive, with her cat eyes seeing a more limited color spectrum, but benefiting her lowlight vision to some degree. Still, she convinced her that she was needed on the mission and could take a more passive role if necessary. How many more missions could she go on, after all?

When they touch down at the bottom of the cave, they were met with a tunnel path leading them forward, in near darkness. As the only one who could currently see forward, Valkyrie peered into the distance of the cave. ” Ah dinnae see anythin’ ahead t’ worry abit. Prism, can ye light th’ way?”

As they proceeded, Valkyrie took the lead. It was her instinct; she had the shield, after all. Alon the way she dropped small iron shavings, in case their path forked; she wanted the ability to detect a path back to the exit. ”Sae thes isnae yer first mission, is it, Prism? Ye nervous? Maybe got a lad at home worryin’ abit ye?” It was honestly a relief dating Mirror, because Valkyrie remembered how Agnes and Vanessa felt about having a girfriend constantly flinging herself into the line of fire. She wondered how one of the most promising members of their new “generation” was handling the balance between hero life and civilian life.

Thermal cave system; probably gonna get hot. Cool. "Got it," Skye said with a nod to Mirror. "Never really thought about spelunking until right now," she said with another smirk as the light stayed steady. Her hair was completely hidden by the hood, but that was probably for the best seeing as how half of her head was uncovered by hair.

"You got it, Valkyrie," she said, stepping forward and holding one hand out in front of her like a flashlight as she centered her mind. The purple light faded to orange, and at first still flashed back to the nervous purple, but she focused on happy thoughts. Thoughts that made her smile. Thoughts that occasionally flickered from orange to pink, but she eventually nailed just the happy thoughts, because orange provided better visibility.

"Mirror and I did some work when those wildfires hit the West Coast awhile back. This is similar, albeit the exact opposite," she replied. "A little, yeah, but I'm focusing on happy thoughts because orange light is better to see in than purple," Skye explained before briefly looking back to Becca with a cheeky grin. "Girl, actually. Hoping to show her than her adorable girlfriend can also be a badass, but Em hasn't believed me when I told her I can be," the mutant said with a giggle as she turned her attention back to the path ahead, awaiting orders.

>>”There is nae retreatin’ in spelunkery, Mirror. That’s hoo ye miss it on th’ best treasures. Ur… Ah dunno, unique fungi?... Ah dinnae see anythin’ ahead t’ worry abit. Prism, can ye light th’ way?”

"Mmm, fungi." Maya smirked. Becca peered ahead. The mutation do jour kiddo had decided on was cat eyes, which was mildly useful, but also a constant reminder that one person on this mission was pregnant. Maya wished she could take the lead without getting into a fight over who was trying to keep whom safe. Plus, Prism needed to light the way anyway.

>>”Sae thes isnae yer first mission, is it, Prism? Ye nervous? Maybe got a lad at home worryin’ abit ye?”

>>"Mirror and I did some work when those wildfires hit the West Coast awhile back. This is similar, albeit the exact opposite... A little, yeah, but I'm focusing on happy thoughts because orange light is better to see in than purple,"

"Good job" Maya smiled at her trainee. Emotion-based powers were hard to control, and as colors flickered, one could always tell how hard Skye was working to keep up the right light.

>>"Girl, actually. Hoping to show her than her adorable girlfriend can also be a badass, but Em hasn't believed me when I told her I can be,"

Go figure. The baby rainbows were being cute about going on X-men missions.

"Em the empath?" Maya arched an eyebrow. Leave it to the emotion-based kids to find each other...

The tunnel bore deeper under the ice and into the bedrock, until all the walls lost the frozen covering. As they descended, the temperature showed a steady rise, and the tunnel sometimes narrowed to a single person's width before opening up again. Maya kept an eye on the readings on the small screen attached to her uniform: temperature, elevation, air quality.

"Doesn't look like anything blocking the way so far..."

"Thanks," Skye replied, trying not to visibly beam at the compliment. She'd really buckled down on her training as of late, after spending a couple of months neglecting everything after that breakup. But now, she was turning things around, in pretty much every area of her life.

The light flickered to pink. Oops. She gathered her thoughts, thinking more about babies and cute things and kicking strangers' asses in videogames until the light made its way back to orange. "Sorry about that. Happens sometimes," she said sheepishly, not looking back as a blush tinted her face. "Yeah, Emily the empath," she said as she occasionally directed one of hands off to the side to show more of the bigger caverns when they came across those. "She came across me at a pretty low point in my life, and we started hanging out. After that, we just....kept hanging out and our friendship bloomed into more from there."

As she spoke, the orange light pulsed vibrantly, a smile splayed across her face. "Yeah I'm not picking up anything either."

Vakyrie could totally do this. She was pregnant, but she was not out of commission yet. She had to be more careful, of course, but they were the team available. Mirror was going to come out here, and a third person in the field made the chances of her girlfriend coming home much better.

As a team leader, Valkyrie was also interested in seeing one of their promising prospects in he field. Realistically, her role would be limited to leading trainings in the Mansion soon, so it would be nice to have one last field op. ”Sae Mirror has a mission wi’ ye under her belt awready? Ah need tae catch up then.”

The girl’s light powers were emotion-based, and those could be unpredictable, but she was clearly putting in the time to practice. Valkyrie liked to see that. On a less important but entirely biased note, Prism revealed that she had a girl waiting at home for her. Oh, Pride Month patrols were going to be an exciting time at the rate the team was developing.

Emily the Empath. What a pair. It warmed her heart. ”Always nice when a friendship blooms loch ‘at, right?” She spared a knowing glance at Mirror, sporting the goofiest grin on her freckled face.

Of course, Valkyrie’s heart was not the only thing warming up. The temperature was indeed raising. It was expected, but the climb surprised her. Should it be this warm?

Flp-flp-flp-eee

The cozy little moment they were sharing in this subterranean tunnel was cut short by an odd flapping sound approaching quickly. Valkyrie’s eyes darted back in front of her, but she could not make out the small object coming at them before her arm raised a shield and there was a crack of contact.

A small animal fell to the ground, dazed. Valkyrie was on guard, but stared at the thing, with its folded wings and long… beak? Not exactly a beak. ”Um… team? Whit are we lookin’ at here?” She had far-fetched ideas she was not ready to share, but she had no name to give it.

She was not the kind of nerd who would recognize a Nemicolopterus.

Mirror noticed the flickering pink and orange, but all in all, Skye was doing a good job holding on to her powers. As long as all they needed was light, she would be just fine. And apart from the temperature change, nothing bad had happened yet.

>>"Yeah, Emily the empath. She came across me at a pretty low point in my life, and we started hanging out. After that, we just....kept hanging out and our friendship bloomed into more from there."

>>”Always nice when a friendship blooms loch ‘at, right?”

Maya snorted and shook her head. It was not really a secret that they started out with Becca as friends. Or friends with benefits. It was kind of all over the Internet.

Suddenly something flew at them out of the darkness of the tunnel. Becca parried on instinct, and a small fluffy object landed at their feet, still stirring.

>>”Um… team? Whit are we lookin’ at here?”

Maya crouched, taking a closer look at the creature.

"Well, I'm not an expert, but that's... not a bird I've ever seen?" she glanced up "Maybe these caves have their own fauna. Wouldn't that be something? Maybe the science team just got distracted and forgot about the time."